Muniain: The Objective Has Been Accomplished, Now We Want More

Athletic Club have become a regular face in European competition, qualifying for four consecutive seasons and eight of their last ten. On Thursday they were able to defeat Panathinaikos 1-0 at the San Mamés to book their place in the group stage of the Europa League and fans are very excited about the team’s chances to make a deep run. Following the game Iker Muniain, who scored Athletic’s goal, and Xabi Etxeita spoke to the media and had a lot of praise for their team and hope for the future. Here is what they had to say:

Iker Muniain put on another masterclass performance to lead Athletic to victory (AS)

Iker Muniain

“The objective of reaching the group stage has been accomplished. Now we want more and that means we have to continue working. My goal? It was a good play, one we really like to run and luckily I was able to be there. The match and the round has not been easy. Our opponents have made things difficult for us. We should congratulate Córdoba for starting today. He is working very well. He has tremendous quality and sacrifice. He was immense today and will hopefully give us a lot of joy.”

Xabi Etxeita

“Playing at the San Mamés is like having an extra defender. It is so valuable and gives us a lot of confidence which is important. We have to give our opponents their credit because they made things difficult. In the end we have qualified for the Europa League again and it feels normal, but we have worked hard to be here. Advancing this far finishes the work we started last season. I do not give a lot of importance to the draw. You have to make the most our of each game and from here our goal will be to qualify from the group.”